It is related
that Rasulullah, Sallallahu ‘alaihi wa Sallam, came one
day with his
face
showing signs of good tidings and said: "Gabriel PBUH,
came to me and
told me "Would it satisfy you, Muhammad, that whenever one
of your
nation asks for prayers upon you, The Lord sends prayers
upon him
tenfold and that whenever one of your nation asks for
peace and
greetings upon You, The Lord will send peace and greetings
upon him
tenfold."

And Sallallahu
‘alaihi wa Sallam said: "Whoever of my nation asks for
prayers upon me
once,
ten "hasanat" (good deeds) are written and ten sins are
erased from his
account,
and his level will be elevated ten ranks."

And
Sallallahu ‘alaihi wa Sallam said: "Whoever asks for
prayers upon me
once, The Lord will
pray upon him 10 times, and whoever asks for prayers upon
me 10 times,
The Lord will pray upon him 100 times, and whoever asks
for prayers
upon me 100 times, The Lord will pray upon him 1000 times,
and whoever
asks for prayers upon me 1000 times, The Lord will forbid
his entrance
to hell. He will grant him steady say in this world and
the after life
at the time of questioning, and will get him into heaven.
His asking
for prayers upon me will be a light for him on the bridge
on
resurrection day, visible at a distance of 500 years, and
The Lord will
grant him for every prayer asked a palace in heaven,
whether few or
many".

Sallallahu
‘alaihi wa Sallam said: “Whoever asks for prayers upon me
once, The
Lord will pray
upon him 10 times, and whoever asks for prayers upon me 10
times, The
Lord will pray upon him 100 times, and whoever asks for
prayers upon me
100 times, The Lord will inscribe between his eyes freedom
from
hypocrisy and shield from hell, and The Lord will house
him with the
martyrs on resurrection day.”

And The Lord,
Jalla Jalaluhu, revealed to us the consequences of His
prayers
upon us in the Glorious Quran: “He is the one who prays
upon you, as do
His angels, to bring you out of depths of darkness into
light, and He
was merciful upon the believers.”(33:43) So He, The Mighty
and Sublime,
will bring us out of deap darkness and grant us His mercy
if He prays
upon us in return for our prayers upon the prophet
Sallallahu ‘alaihi
wa Sallam.

And Sallallahu ‘alaihi wa Sallam said: "Whoever
hears the
call to prayer and says, ‘O Lord of
this beneficial call and this established prayer, please
grant Mohammed
the means, and the virtue, and the supreme magnitude, and
resurrect him
to the appreciated status You promised him’, will be
granted my
intercession on the day of resurrection."

And Sallallahu ‘alaihi wa Sallam said: “If you
hear the
caller for prayers, repeat what he says,
then ask for prayers upon me. For whoever asks for prayers
upon me
once, The Lord will pray upon him ten times. Then ask The
Lord to grant
me the means, for it is a status in heaven only befitting
one of The
Lord’s slaves, and I hope I am him. For whoever asks that
I am granted
the means will deserve my intercession.”

And Sallallahu ‘alaihi wa Sallam said: "Gabriel,
PBUH came
to me and said: ‘O Mohammed,
whenever anyone of your nation asks for prayers upon you,
seventy
thousands angels pray upon him in return, and whoever is
prayed upon by
angels will be among the people in heaven".

It is said: "On the pillar of The Throne is
written: ‘I have
mercy on
whoever longs for Me, and I give whoever asks Me. Whoever
seeks
closeness to Me by asking for prayers upon Mohammed, I
forgive his
sins, even if as plenty as the foam of the sea".

And Sallallahu ‘alaihi wa Sallam said: "Whoever
faces a
difficult need should increase asking
for prayers upon me, for prayers upon me remove worries
and anguish and
distress,
and increase sustenance, and satisfy all demands".

And Sallallahu ‘alaihi wa Sallam was asked: "Are
you aware
of the prayers invoked upon you by
those who are away from you or those who will come after
you?" He
replied: "I hear the prayers of those who love me and I
know them. The
prayers of others are presented to me".

Sallallahu
‘alaihi wa Sallam said: “You are presented to me with your
names and
appearances, so ask for prayers upon me in a good way.”
And suffices the person of nobility that his name is
mentioned in
goodness in front the prophet.

Sallallahu ‘alaihi wa Sallam said: “I had a
calling from The
Lord that said: ‘Whoever asks for
prayers upon you once, The Lord will pray upon him ten
times.’” Then a
man stood up and asked him: “O RasuluAllah, shall I make
half my
prayers for you?” He replied “if you wish” the man asked
“shall I make
two thirds of my prayers for you?” he replied “if you
wish”. The man
then said “shall I make ALL my prayers for you?”
Sallallahu ‘alaihi wa
Sallam replied: “Then
The Lord will attend to all your worries about this world
and the after
life.”

Asking for prayers upon the prophet is reason to
steady the
person’s
feet on the Bridge and for passing it. Sallallahu ‘alaihi
wa Sallam
said: “I saw one of my
nation creeping on the Bridge, sometimes crawling
and sometimes
barely
hanging. His asking for prayers upon me then came and
stood him up and
saved him.”

And prayers upon the prophet is cause that
he,
Sallallahu ‘alaihi wa Sallam, greets
whoever asks for prayers and greetings upon him after he
died. He
said: “When anyone greets me, The Lord resurrects my soul
so I return
his greetings.”

Asking for prayers upon the prophet is among the
best and
most gracious
of deeds revered by The Lord in this world and in
the after-life,
and
of the most fruitful and beneficial, and through it
goodness is sought.
Otherwise, how would a lowly mean slave be prayed upon by
The Lord and
His angels were it not for prayers upon the prophet?

And Sallallahu ‘alaihi wa Sallam said: "whoever
forgot to
ask for prayers upon me has lost his
path to heaven.” Sallallahu ‘alaihi wa Sallam meant by
“forgot”
neglect. And if the neglector
misses the path to heaven, then the one who remembers is
on the right
path to heaven.

The Lord ordered us to ask for prayers upon the
prophet and
to send
abundant peace and greetings. He did not set a known
timing for this,
so a person is dutifully bound to do this plentifully and
never fail to
remember it. Whoever ignores this is devoid of all
goodness.

Sallallahu ‘alaihi wa Sallam heard a man
supplicating
during prayer but did not ask for
prayers upon the prophet. So Sallallahu ‘alaihi wa Sallam
said: “This
one was hasty”. And he
called him and told him and others: “To ask The Lord, you
should start
by thanking and praising The Lord, then ask for prayers
upon the prophet, then you pray for whatever you wish”.

Abu Suleiman Ad-Darani said: "Whoever wishes to
request
something from
The Lord, should increase asking for prayers upon the
prophet,
Sallallahu ‘alaihi wa Sallam,
and then ask The Lord his request and then end his request
by asking
for prayers upon the prophet Sallallahu ‘alaihi wa Sallam.
For Allah
will accept the two
requests for prayers upon the prophet, and He is more
Noble than to
refuse to grant what is between them”.

Ibn Ataa’ said: supplications have pillars and
wings and
means and
timings. If a supplication or prayers finds its pillars it
becomes
stronger. If it finds its wings it flies through he skies.
If it finds
its timings it wins. And if it finds its means it
succeeds. Its pillars
are dedication, delicacy, humility, devoutness, and
clinging to
The
Lord. Its wings are truthfulness. Its timings are early
hours of the
day. And its means are asking for prayers upon the
prophet.

Sallallahu ‘alaihi wa Sallam told Fatima: “If
you enter the
mosque, say ‘In the Name of God,
the Compassionate, the Merciful, and peace and greetings
upon the
messenger of The Lord. O Lord please send prayers upon
Mohammed and the
family of Mohammed, and forgive us and ease for us the
doors to Your
Mercy.’ and when you are leaving say the same except ‘ease
for us the
doors to Your Grace.’”

In general, asking for prayers upon the prophet
Sallallahu
‘alaihi wa Sallam is reason for:
prayers from The Lord and His angels, and forgiveness of
sins, and
veneration of deeds, and elevation of ranks, and answering
prayers, and
The Lord attending to worries of this world and the after
life, and
freedom from hypocrisy, and shield from hell, and for
being among those
most worthy of the
prophet Sallallahu ‘alaihi wa Sallam on the day of
resurrection, and
The Lord housing him with
the martyrs.

The Lord, Mighty and Sublime is He, said: “The Lord and
His angels send prayers
upon the Prophet: O ye that believe! Send ye prayers upon
him and
salute him with all respect” (Al-Ahzab 33:56).
So it is better to
link prayers with salutations, in obedience to The Lord’s
directive.
This is how prayers should be asked for.

Sallallahu
‘alaihi wa Sallam was asked: We have known how to greet
you (by saying
"AsSalamu
Alayka Wa Rahmatu Allahi Wa Barakatuh" or May peace be
upon you and The
Lord’s mercy and blessings), but how do we ask for prayers
upon you?
Sallallahu ‘alaihi wa Sallam said: “Say: ‘O Lord, please
send prayers
upon Mohammed and his
family as You sent prayers upon Ibrahim, and bless
Mohammed an his
family as You blessed Ibrahim, for You are Praiseworthy
and Glorious.’”

How to ask for prayers upon the prophet is by no
means
limited to a set
script, and whoever The Lord bestows upon eloquence so he
can clarify
and magnify the meaning and the purpose in fluent and
expressive and
meaningful words clarifying the prophets honorable status
Sallallahu
‘alaihi wa Sallam should
do so.

There are many
different forms and scripts for asking for prayers upon
the prophet Sallallahu ‘alaihi wa Sallam. It is The Lord,
Mighty and
Sublime is He who
actually is praying. We can only ask The Lord to send
prayers upon him,
because of our inability to grasp the essence of praying
upon him
Sallallahu ‘alaihi wa Sallam, and our inability to
appreciate his
status with The Lord.

And it is said:
When The Lord ordered us to “pray upon” the prophet
Sallallahu ‘alaihi
wa Sallam, we were not able to reach the knowledge of how
to do so or
its
meaning, or The Lord’s actual desire of how to do this, so
we referred
it to The Lord, Glorified and Mighty is He, and we said O
Lord, You
send Your prayers upon Your prophet, for You know what he
deserves and
what befits him, and what You intend by prayers upon him,
Sallallahu
‘alaihi wa
Sallam.